From 2021 to 2024 I ran the AI+Art program at the ETH AI Center*. During this time I developed a special method to foster the collaboration between artists and researchers in a meaningful and fruitful as well as fun and sustainable way. In many of my projects I continue the idea and goals of the program as well as in its different formats.
You can still find a remnant on the ETH AI Center website under the name "Art and Critical Thinking".
Below is a description of the project as I presented it to the collaborators.
Krebs Cycle of Creativity, Neri Oxman, 2016
MIT Media Lab Prof Neri Oxman explains that we usually think that art is for expression, science is for exploration, engineering is for invention and design is for communication. In her Krebs Cycle of Creativity, she proposes that science converts information into knowledge; engineering knowledge into utility; design utility into cultural behavior and context; and art takes that context and questions our perception of the world. The Cinderella Moment is where art meets science — and changes in our perceptions affect the way we capture data.
The ETH AI Center‘s AI+Art program is chasing that Cinderella Moment. The dynamic initiative, curated by Adrian Notz, is a catalyst for fostering dialogues between artists and scientists, resulting in fruitful, inspiring and helpful encounters, collaborations and even artworks, that challenge business oriented development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and technologies and effectively convey scientific ideas and findings to a wider audience.
Context
As AI increasingly permeates every facet of our lives, it is crucial that the discourse extends beyond the realm of experts to encompass society as a whole. Unfortunately, public discussions on AI often fall into repetitive dystopian narratives, hindering a forward-looking dialogue about its possibilities, necessities, and aspirations with good purposes. Current technological development of AI is accelerating exponentially. The danger of AI being used for harmful purposes is great, as we can read in the news every day. This ongoing development and raises ethical, social, cultural and environmental questions. The fine line seems to be in how AI is used sustainably and holistically for common good.
The AI+Art program is situated in the ETH AI Center with 120 faculties across all 16 ETH departments. The center has successfully managed to establish a visionary thought leadership with strong industry and entrepreneurship affiliations and collaborations that bring science to society on a global scale.
By fostering the collaboration between artists and researchers AI+Art invigorates the symbiotic relationship between art and science to empower a critical, ethical and creative mindset in education, research and development and to communicate more broadly beyond industry and entrepreneurship from science to society.
Goals
AI+Art promotes an understanding of AI that takes appropriate account of the social, cultural, ethical, sustainable and environmental dimensions. We are dedicated to reshaping the narrative and actively contributing to a future-oriented constructive exchange on the transformative power of AI.
Empower a critical, ethical and creative mindset
With the art and science collaborations we aim to
- Promote Critical Thinking + Ethics,
- Diversify Knowledge + Intelligence,
- Contribute New Questions + Alternative Perspectives
- Provide Inspiration, Create Visions, Speculations and Fictions for/of the Future
Communication from science to society
By incorporating themes of public interest with artists as investigators, mediators and moderators, we aim to instigate a meaningful and inclusive dialogue with a broader audience and to captivate them cognitively, emotionally, and aesthetically, offering a unique and immersive experience on different levels.
Ideas and intentions
The AI+Art artists, scientists and community identify with these ideas and intentions:
- Interdisciplinary Innovation and Collaboration: Uniting Art and Science, Shaping Tomorrow‘s AI Landscape
- Societal Impact and Engagement: Empowering Society through AI Discourse
- Purpose-Driven Exploration: Crafting Tomorrow‘s Solutions for Today‘s Challenges
- Holistic Understanding of AI: Going beyond the Code – Shaping AI with Cultural and Ethical Insight.
AI+Art Pipeline, Adrian Notz, 2023
Strategy
Art and Science Fellows
The AI+Art program is centered around Art and Science Fellows, whose main objective is collaborative research with scientists.
Formats
A pipeline of different formats creates an ecosystem where art meets science in the context of AI research.
AI + Art Tours
Once a month we organize guided tours to different art institutions in Zurich. Like this the ETH AI Center fellows meet artists and curators and experience art, artworks and art exhibitions.
Lab Visits
In small groups of artists and curators we visit ETH AI Center labs. These visits create first encounters between scientists and artists and we gain insight into their research to explore potential further collaborations.
Science as Art
Together with faculty and fellows we discover, develop, produce and exhibit artworks that “collaterally” happen in research. It enables a presentation of their research beyond papers and posters.
AI + Art Conversations
In public events we bring together scientists and artists to engage in a dialogue about current research topics from different perspectives.
Seminars
Together with artists and art institutions, especially the Zurich University of Arts (ZHdK), as well as ETH faculties and fellows, we organize joint seminars about topics on AI where art and science students develop project ideas together.
Art + Science Exhibition
We curate art and science exhibitions, concerts, performances or other artistic events, with high level contemporary artists collaborating with scientists and working on scientific research topics.
Collaborative Artworks
In close collaboration between contemporary artists and ETH AI Center researchers we develop new artworks grounded in the research of faculties and in the interest and skills of artists.
Collaborative Research
We aim to create collaborative research between contemporary artists and ETH AI Center researchers, where artists come with a question that interest ETH AI Center research labs and boost their research in a productive and creative way.
*for the first six months together with the artist Nora Al-Badri.
